Stand
by Mrs. HopeEstheim
Summary: SPOILERS FOR CURRENT MANGA ARC. Before she could do that, she had to figure out how to stand on her own once more. Lucy-centric.


**SPUR OF THE MOMENT. Forgive any errors, because I literally thought of it and typed it in 15 minutes.**

**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT UP TO DATE WITH THE MANGA AS OF JUNE 07, 2014.**

**You have been warned.**

* * *

To Lucy, the important thing wasn't that she had been able to summon the Celestial Spirit King. The important thing wasn't that she was _alive_, even though it would have been if she had been the same girl that had joined Fairy Tail all those years ago. The important thing wasn't even that all of her guildmates were alive and fairly well, considering.

No...the important thing was the friend she'd lost.

Aquarius...Aquarius was a friend Lucy never thought she actually _had_, if the truth be told. She thought that Aquarius had always, and would always, hate her. She wasn't her mother, it was true, but she was her own person, and _dammit_, why wasn't that enough for that stupid mermaid?!

But now that she was _gone_, Lucy's heart was breaking. No, that wasn't it.

She was broken.

If Aquarius was the first spirit she had ever summoned, had ever contracted with, and was also the first to leave her...would the same happen with all of her other friends? Would Cancer leave her like that? And Loke? And even _Plue_? Even if breaking Plue's key wouldn't summon the Spirit King like breaking one of the Zodiac keys did...would he leave her because he didn't trust her anymore?

What if she had to break _another_ key?

Aquarius would always hate her for that, wouldn't she? Even though, right there in the last few moments, she knew that the Water Bearer had finally come to accept her as a master, just a little...she'd never forgive Lucy for failing again. She'd never forgive her master...no, _former_ master...for needing to summon the king again. That would mean that Lucy was still too weak to do anything on her own, and hadn't Aquarius always scoffed at her for that?

And while the others where here, protecting her, fighting for _her sake_, Lucy couldn't even move. She had managed to roll onto her side, just barely, where she curled into a loose ball and cried because she couldn't do anything else. She heard Gajeel grunt, Natsu screaming his Fire Dragon's something-or-other, and the sound of water was the sure sign that Juvia was still fighting. Gray had been dragged off to somewhere by the other ice guy, who smelled like him, apparently, and he had seemed upset when he spoke to him, or of him. But Lucy didn't know where he was, and that was the scary part. She couldn't hear him grunt, hear him scream, hear him attack. Not like she could hear the others.

They were fighting for her, and she couldn't do anything but cry.

Maybe she really was weak, after all, like Aquarius used to tell her.

_Aquarius_.

The pain was fresh, and too, too real. She didn't know how to deal with it anymore. The fact that she wouldn't see Aquarius again...even if she was still alive, as she had assured Lucy she _would_ be, the blonde wouldn't be able to see her again.

Lucy wouldn't get to argue with Aquarius, yell at her, be yelled at by her, get drenched by Aquarius' _mistakes_...they wouldn't be able piss each other off anymore, and she wouldn't be irritated by her blatant disregard of Lucy's needs and reasons for summoning her, or hear Aquarius tease her about not having a boyfriend.

_Aquarius._

She wouldn't be able to see the tell-tale twitch in the spirit's eyebrow right before she washed Lucy away with a powerful wave.

_She wouldn't be washed away with her enemies anymore._

Natsu's grunt of pain made her flinch into a tighter ball, and she remembered where she was. She was laying on the ground in the middle of three different battles. Battles that were being fought..._to protect her_. She couldn't keep wallowing in her grief. Not right now. There would be time for that after everyone was safe and sound.

She had to _get up_.

It's what Aquarius would want, right?

"_Aquarius_..." her voice was raspy, but it slipped out as she forced herself into a sitting position. "...I've got to...for _Aquarius_."

It wasn't possible to make the pain go away, not so soon, but she had to face it. She had to move on, even though it hurt. She had to _get up_, dammit, and she had to keep going. _Somehow_.

She'd make it.

She _had_ to.

All that Aquarius had done for her...she couldn't let it go to waste. She didn't want Aquarius, wherever she was, to regret her brave and selfless action. Lucy would prove to Aquarius that she was worthy of her friendship, and her companionship, in the brief time they had been together...somehow.

But before she could do that, she had to figure out how to stand on her own once more.

* * *

**AND...here's this little drabble.**


End file.
